Overview: In a matchup of the league’s worst three-point defense and the league’s most accurate three-point shooting team, the Warriors rained 14 threes on the Cavs over the course of a 116-98 win. Monta Ellis led all scorers with 32 points and 10 assists,

Predictability can be painful bullets:

So, the Cavs can’t defend the three-point line. They gave up 14 threes. They can’t defend penetration. The Warriors got into the paint at will and either laid the ball in or drove and kicked. They can’t defend elite scoring wings. Monta went off for 32 and 10. Their only good interior defender is Varejao. Andy was hurt, and David Lee shot 10-16 from the field.

There’s really no point in talking about the offense after a defensive performance like that. If the Warriors get those looks, there is no way the Cavs are going to win the game. Trying to figure out an “offensive scheme” after getting manhandled is absolutely the basketball equivalent of rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. This team needs to be torn to its foundations and built back up with a clear defensive scheme in mind and players who can make that scheme work. That is the only way to make a team with this little talent work, because anything can happen in a close game, and sometimes a random player or two will get hot on offense.

There is no way to win games without a superstar if teams are continuously getting whatever they want on offense. And that is what is happening here. The Cavs are functioning as a showcase for other teams. I’ve realized I can’t really evaluate players that I’m not all that familiar with, such as Julian Wright, when they play the Cavs, because the team’s defense essentially functions as the cones in a combine workout. On a team level, the Cavs play defense like the “Os” the opposing coach draws when he maps plays out on the greaseboard.

It’s kind of impossible to write about this team right now, because this is not a team with discernible ups and downs, or a series of things it needs to do in order to win games. The team literally has no identity. Its only purpose at the current moment is to showcase the talents of its opponent to whoever may be watching the game. It’s time to stop working on the Paper-Mache Winchester Mystery house the Cavs have made this team into and rebuild everything from the ground up, starting with a solid defensive foundation. Right now, this is not basketball.

Offensively, all I’ll say is this: you know the expression “you take what the other team gives you?” On Saturday, the only good looks the Cavs got were the ones the Warriors literally gave to them. In the third quarter, the Warriors pretty much either made a basket or just gave it to the Cavs with a completely unforced and embarrassing turnover, because they were up by 15-20 points and didn’t care enough. They looked like somebody playing 2K on medium difficulty while not really paying attention. Honestly, part of me wished that the Cavs had lost by 40 instead of losing by 18 because the Warriors couldn’t be bothered to take the Cavs seriously for the full 48 minutes of play.

I looked some Shiney, but only through seasons in which I’ve lived through. CLosest thing I came up with was the 97-98 Bulls having the best record. Jordan retires, and they have poor record next year only it’s the lock-out year, so if you discount that and go on to the next season (99-00) the Bulls finished with 17 wins which was next to last.

just gotta wonder if canning mike brown was really the right move….yes he had questionable decision making skills but you also have to wonder how much that was influenced by lebron for good or bad…this team needs someone like brown to play his defensive style…i dont know what scott is doing to help this team but it appears nothing at all is working….i think this team would be more competitive….not necessarliy win but compete with brown’s defensive schemes…usually teams with subpar players that play a tough lockdown D are tough to beat….

I have always been a big Mike Brown supporter and am positive that our defense would be better if he were still coach. I don’t think that Byron Scott is nearly as bad as he seems right now, but if I had the choice, I would take Brown every time. But as we all know, firing Brown was only a last ditch effort by ownership to keep LeBron. It had very little to do with Brown’s coaching. That is the reason why Ferry left.

All that being said, the moment we brought Jamison in was the moment our Defense started going WAY down hill. He has always been beyond atrocious, really one of the worst defenders in the league for almost his entire career. We are forced to play him big minutes for obvious reasons and he is a leader of the team. Unfortunately, guys seem to be following his lead more than Andy’s. I don’t know what Scott’s defensive philosophy is. It is impossible to tell by watching this crap. But Brown was all about help defense. You always showed hard, made them feel you, and contested everything trusting that the next guy would make the right rotation. At times, it made guys a little too reliant on help and they didn’t guard their man enough, but the rotation was always there. We forced teams into a midrange game. We don’t have Z, or Shaq, and our wing guys are all short, so it is harder, but this is beyond embarrassing.

You’re right about this team lacking identity. I’ve been saying it for a while now too – there’s probably never been a team that was so dependent on one player for success, then watches that player leave, doesn’t change anything significant and then wonders why the team is no longer successful.

And, yes, while I agree that it doesn’t look like the players are ever going to dig in an truly attempt to play good defense, I don’t know how different it would be if we still had Mike Brown. Not only does this team no longer have LeBron’s defense helping them, but they don’t have Z (who is slow, but is big, long and can rebound) or Ben Wallace or even that god-awful (but, again, long) backcourt of Sasha Pavlovic and Larry Hughes. Those were the key pieces of our truly good defensive teams. All we’re left with now are the concessions we made to become a better OFFENSIVE team (Mo and Antawn) and a DEEPER team (Parker, Moon).

While it’s true that no one really knew exactly how this team was going to play itself out this year, no one should really be surprised in hindsight (though, sure, you may reserve the right to be THIS surprised)…

At this point it’s a waiting game for the fans as the only thing left to do for this team is to hit the self-destruct button, get what value they can for their higher priced players. From now ’til the trade deadline will be a pretty sour time if these games are any indication. The trouble is right now we’re seeing barely any effort from the team and there’s been no real noticeable growth with the younger players (outside of Boobie who’s injured right now). This team doesn’t simply lack identity, they lack anything that makes them stand out at all. They do nothing particularly well, and have no players who give me a reason to watch the games.

I’m not gonna second guess all the moves the organization has made to get here, simply because it’s been done too much already and the success was honestly worth it. Yes, we didn’t win it all but this was the best Cleveland team we’d seen in about a decade and it was fun to watch every night. Questioning the coaching change at this point is counter-productive, because there is very little Scott can do; the players have quit as a group, and I don’t think Scott or Brown are capable of re-energizing them right now.

I mean, Antawn Jamison is considered the team’s leader right now, and anybody who watched him in Washington knew that while he’s a class act he can’t be the heart of a team. Mo has lived up to the doubts he produced about his leadership ability over the summer, and that’s all you can say for where this team is at right now. They need a real leader among the players, and that means making some roster changes. The sad thing for fans is that it doesn’t look like much is gonna happen before the trade deadline. I just pray they get some value back either in Feb or in the off-season for guys like Jamison, Mo, and Andy cuz the status quo is simply horrifying to watch.

The only one I ever see talking much out there is Mo, but the problem is that while he might be a good teacher to our younger players, he is not good enough to will this team to victory on most nights (he did against Bucks, Grizzlies, and Knicks, which are our last 3 wins).

The reason why Mo’s shooting is down, and why Jamison is less efficient, is simply because they are the only 2 true NBA offensive threats out there, and they are getting mobbed.

Also, Hickson has the worst hands I have ever seen, while Hollins is close behind.

I know it’s sort of blasphemous to even consider this, but does anyone have a “second” team they have been following this year? You know, a team that actually plays coherent basketball, so you have at least some kind of a rooting interest that has a chance to win games?

The Lineup: (Click for Author’s Archive)

Nate Smith is an Associate Editor. He grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, and moved to NE Ohio in 2000. He adopted the Cavs in 2003 and graduated from Kent State in 2009 with a BA in English. He can be contacted at oldseaminer@gmail.com or @oldseaminer on Twitter.

Tom Pestak is an Associate Editor. He's from the west side of Cleveland and lives and (mostly) dies by the success and (mostly) failures of his beloved teams. You can watch his fanaticism during Cavs games @tompestak.

Robert Attenweiler is a Staff Writer. Originally from OH, he's long made his home in NYC where he writes plays and screenplays (www.disgracedproductions.com) some of which end up being about Ohio, basketball or both. He has also written for The Classical and the blog Raising the Cadavalier. You can contact him at rattenweiler@gmail.com or @cadavalier.

Benjamin Werth is a Staff Writer. He was born in Cleveland and raised in Mentor, OH. He now lives in Germany where he is an opera singer and actor. He can be reached at blfwerth@gmail.com.

Cory Hughey is a Staff Writer. He grew up in Youngstown, the Gary, Indiana of Ohio. He graduated from Youngstown State in 2008 with a worthless telecommunications degree. He can be contacted at theleperfromwatts@yahoo.com or @coryhughey on Twitter.

David Wood is our Links Editor. He is a 2012 Graduate of Syracuse University with an English degree who loves bikes, beer, basketball, writing, and Rimbaud. He can be reached on Twitter: @nothingwood.

Mallory Factor is the voice of Cavs: The Podcast. By day Mallory works in fundraising and by night he runs a music business company. To see his music endeavors check out www.fivetracks.com. Hit him up at Malloryfactorii@gmail.com or @Malfii.

John Krolik is the Editor Emeritus of Cavs: The Blog. At present, he is pursuing a law degree at Tulane University. You can contact him at johnkrolik@gmail.com or @johnkrolik.

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